Son Turned Daughter
by Tangent
Summary: Not wanting to lie to the only friend he had in a very long time, Ranma tells Akane about his curse after their fist sparring session. From there on out, things just seem to snowball out in odd directions...
1. So, Do You Want to be Friends?

Son Turned Daughter  
A Ranma ½ fanfict by Tangent  
Pre-reading and editing assistance by:  
Lord Talon;  
Nevrmore;  
And some guy named Steve  
  
Updated: 5/7/2001  
  
DISCLAIMER: 'Ranma ½' and all characters therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This fanfict has been produced for my own enjoyment and to pass on without profit. Other characters that come into play in this fanfict may or may not be pulled from other sources (including other fanficts, RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even *GASP* American comic books!).  
  
A WORD FROM TANGENT: I've wanted to do a story like this one ever since I read 'An Alternate History of Ranma ½' by Ichinohei Hitomi. While I liked the story, I couldn't help but feel that I would have written things a bit differently. But then, that's what alternaverse fanficts are about aren't they? So, in my tribute to both Rumiko Takahashi and Ichinohei Hitomi, I bring you this tale of 'What would have happened if…'  
  
CHAPTER ONE: So, Do You Want to be Friends?  
  
Leading her new friend out to the Dojo, a fairly modern set of rooms with florescent lights in the ceiling, a small shine, some scenery and the dojo motto, Akane decided that she would have to get Ranma to open up a little. "You do practice Kempo don't you?"  
  
Ranma, still a little nervous about these people and the situation, but none the less glad that she had at least found a friend, replied, "A little."  
  
Akane noticed that Ranma was still very nervous, and since physical exercise always soothed her, she said, "Then let's have a little match, just between the two of us. OK?"  
  
Ranma looked at Akane's face and was a little confused. She was the first girl that the pig-tailed girl had ever met that was really interested in the Martial arts, and that made her a little apprehensive. Despite the fact that she was also a girl, Ranma didn't really want to harm or fight Akane. Besides, she had fought a girl once before, and that had turned out to be a disaster. "Aahhhh..."  
  
Akane smiled again, noticing that the girl was now confused. She was definitely too innocent for her own good, especially since it was obvious that she would be living with them now. "It's just for fun. Don't worry, I won't hurt you."  
  
Ranma was still nervous as she replied, "If you say so."  
  
Akane went into a battle stance. She had noticed that Ranma hadn't gone into a stance, and stood with her arms behind her back. Since it was obvious that she wasn't really prepared, Akane had chosen a stance that would allow her to transmit her movements in an obvious way.  
  
She quickly closed the space between the two of them, punching quickly, and shouting aloud. It was with some surprise that she noted Ranma had leapt up five and a half feet. She was obviously not as inexperienced at the arts as she seemed, so Akane reduced the amount that she could be read by half and then did a high side kick at the girl in front of her.  
  
Ranma just leapt up again and opened up her legs wide. Spreading her arms out to keep her balance, she noted how good Akane was, and admired her abilities. The way that she suddenly dropped the amount of movement in the way she could be read indicated that her opponent was very skilled in the arts. If this continued, she could very well be hit since she wouldn't be able to tell how the blow was going to land. However, she still couldn't bring herself to throw a blow that would hit or hurt Akane.  
  
Meantime Akane kept throwing blows, each time reducing the amount of movements that could be read. Punches, kicks, jabs, and so on would continue to miss the small redhead as she bobbed from one side to the other (or even backwards) to avoid getting hit. While Akane was getting closer each time, she still wasn't getting through. She also noticed that Ranma hadn't thrown a single blow at her. "What's wrong? Swing at me."  
  
Ranma didn't respond. How could she take the chance on hitting a friend? The only friend she'd had in a very, very long time.  
  
Akane suddenly started a set of blows that Ranma dodged, although it had been a close thing at the beginning of the series (the redhead had been forced to actually move and give ground a little with each strike).  
  
Ranma backed away a little bit while Akane did the same. This was getting more and more serious with each passing moment and she realized that one of them would get hurt if this continued, and she didn't want to be the one to throw the blow that hurt Akane. She then noticed the change in Akane's stance, A change that indicated that Akane had decided that this Ranma could stand more than just practice…  
  
Akane in the meantime had been wondering why her blows were missing. Each time she struck, she had narrowed the margin that her movements had shown. Most martial artists would have already been beaten back by the series of strikes that she had already tried. [Why? Why am I missing her?] she thought, [It's almost as if she's reading all my moves.]  
  
That was when she realized something. Her father said that he had trained together with this girls father, and if that was the case, then Ranma was probably a practitioner of Arts of Anything Goes as well. She shifted stances, [OK then, this time for real.]  
  
Akane moved fast, approaching Ranma at a high speed and throwing an authentic punch, rather than a practice blow. Ranma barely had time to leap above the fist, having to crouch slightly to gather enough speed. She saw that Akane's hand was still in the wall, and an opportunity presented itself to her to finish this fight quickly. She kicked off lightly from the wall when she was at the apex of her jump, and flipped over to land behind Akane, giving her a light tap on the back of her head with her index finger.  
  
Akane, was still stunned, not at having missed Ranma, she had expected that, but that she had put so much force into the blow that she had broken the wall. When she felt the finger on her head, a strike that (had it been real) would have knocked her out, she turned slowly. Ranma was smiling a bit awkwardly and laughing hesitantly, but it was the first real bit of joy that she had seen on the girl's face since she arrived. Akane joined in the laughter, glad all of a sudden to have made a friend and meeting someone she could really respect, and Ranma's laughter grew steadier in its confidence.  
  
Akane managed to stop herself, although the two of them were now gasping a little, enjoying each other's company. Looking at Ranma over her shoulder as she began to leave the dojo, she said, "You're pretty good. I'm just glad that you're a girl."  
  
Ranma looked back at her, a bit of puzzlement on her face, "Huh?"  
  
Akane giggled a bit and looked back at Ranma, "It's just that...I'd really hate to lose to a boy."  
  
Ranma hesitated for a moment, almost allowing Akane to exit the dojo before getting the resolve to speak up. "But, Akane," she corrected, voice trembling from fear that she was about to lose her new friend with what she was about to say. "I am a boy…"  
  
Akane stopped in shock at Ranma's pronouncement, turning around and looking at the redheaded girl as if she lost her mind. "Nani?"  
  
In a small, hesitant voice, Ranma began to explain the Nyanniichuan curse to Akane…  
  
***  
  
To say that Akane Tendo was a bit confused would be understating things. What her new friend, Ranma Saotome, had just confessed to her was more than a little shocking. The lonely girl who had arrived that day accompanied by a giant panda was really the boy that their fathers wanted to engage to one of the Tendo daughters. And the panda was supposedly the girl's father. Akane wanted to believe that it was just some bizarre joke that Ranma was pulling on her, but the frightened expression that she saw on the other girl's face told her that Ranma was afraid of losing the only friend that she had in a long, long time.  
  
Not the sort of expression one would expect from a practical joker, anyway. "I'm sorry, Ranma, but do you have any way to prove what you just said? It's a little hard to believe."  
  
"I change back to my true form with hot water," Ranma explained softly. She couldn't tell how Akane was taking this, and she almost wished that she had kept her mouth shut earlier and said nothing. She almost hadn't, but she didn't want to lie to her new friend, even if it cost her that very friendship. "I… I understand if you don't want to be friends anymore," she continued quietly, trying hard to hold back the tears that she could feel coming on. "Who would want to be friends with a freak like me, anyway?"  
  
That was more than enough for Akane. "I didn't mean it that way! Of course we're still friends! It's just that it's a bit hard to take at the moment."  
  
"Thank you Akane," Ranma said, relieved that she wasn't going to lose her only friend after all. "That really means a lot to me."  
  
Akane thought of something, remembering what was supposed to have happened earlier that day. "Are you aware that you're supposed to choose either one of my sisters or me to marry?"  
  
"I'd actually forgotten about that, but yeah," Ranma admitted. "Of course my idiot father didn't tell me until today, right before it started raining…"  
  
Akane giggled. "Ours didn't tell us until today either, although I think Nabiki suspected something since she had changed into that kimono."  
  
"What does that have to do with anything?" Ranma asked, perplexed.  
  
"You don't know?" Akane wondered at this, as it was part of the cultural heritage that she supposedly shared with Ranma as a fellow countryman… woman… whatever.  
  
"Akane," Ranma explained calmly. "I just spent ten years on a training journey with my old man, who doesn't seem to think that anything is important unless it somehow involves martial arts. I rather expect that there's a lot of stuff I should know that he never saw fit to tell me about."  
  
Akane could only nod at that summery, not knowing how to respond.  
  
"Anyway," Ranma went on. "Let's go to the kitchen and get some hot water so I can show you my true form. I'm going to have to show everyone sooner or later, and it may as well be sooner…"  
  
***  
  
Kasumi handed the teakettle over to Ranma, who had just finished explaining the curse to her. "Oh, you poor dear! This must be very hard on you!"  
  
"You ain't kiddin'" Ranma responded dryly as she began to pour the kettle over her head. Akane and Kasumi watched with rapt attention, having been told what to expect, but not quite believing that it would happen.  
  
Just at that moment, Nabiki wandered into the kitchen. "Kasumi, do you know… who… th…" The cause of Nabiki's current difficulty in communicating was due to the fact that the short redheaded girl that she had been so disappointed with earlier had just grown about eight inches taller while turning into a guy with raven-black hair before her eyes. Her unshakable world-view had just received a sudden, unexpected turn in a blender… Thump!  
  
Ranma, Akane, and Kasumi looked at Nabiki where she lay on the floor, having fainted. Kasumi then summed it up nicely with her next statement; "Oh dear. I guess we should have warned her as well."  
  
Ranma scratched the back of his head, not quite sure what to do. When he didn't see Nabiki earlier, he expected to show her his curse at the same time that he showed the girls' father. Instead, she had walked into the kitchen at just the right time to get the shock of her life.  
  
Akane looked on as Kasumi tended to their middle sister, then glanced at Ranma, who seemed to be a little out of sorts. When he returned her gaze, she saw that he still seemed nervous, like he expected her to change her mind about still being friends. Akane thought it over for a moment before deciding that he didn't seem like the other boys at school. "So, what do we do about this marriage agreement?" she asked in general.  
  
Ranma thought briefly about the matter, and Kasumi seemed to be considering the situation as well. It was clear that they were all in the same boat, having only been told about the marriage agreement today, and just before actually meeting each other on top of that.  
  
"Um…" Ranma started. "It's not that I don't find any of you attractive or nothin', but we only just met and I hardly know any of you. Besides, I don't quite feel ready for marriage yet. I mean, it's not something I've given a lot of thought about. You girls deserve better than some guy who just came off the road and doesn't know anything about bein' a husband…" In a much smaller voice, but still audible enough for Akane and Kasumi to hear, he continued; "I just want some friends for now. I don't want to deal with all this pressure…"  
  
Akane smiled at the boy in front of her. She was glad that she had reserved her judgment and had decided to remain friends. Ranma was definitely not like the other boys she knew.  
  
"Perhaps it would be better if we put off the decision then," Kasumi stated mildly, as if this was the most ordinary thing in the world. "A year won't hurt anything, and by then we'll all know each other a bit better."  
  
"A year sounds good to me," Akane put in. "Ranma?"  
  
Ranma considered this, and nodded his agreement. "Yeah, a year would probably do it. I'll definitely be better prepared then. In the mean time, we can just get to know each other." He gestured towards Nabiki, who still lay unconscious as Kasumi was tending to her. "Who knows, maybe by then, even she'll like me."  
  
"In any event," Kasumi stated. "It's almost dinner time, and you both still need to clean up."  
  
"You first?" Ranma asked Akane as the two left the kitchen.  
  
"No," Akane explained. "You are our guest. After you."  
  
***  
  
After dinner, Soun and Genma started to re-introduce everyone, only to find out that the girls already knew about the curses that the Saotomes were under. Of the girls, only Nabiki seemed to be upset over the whole situation. It was obvious that she wasn't happy with Ranma's curse, and that she didn't want anything to do with the boy. Kasumi and Akane appeared to like the boy, which surprised Soun. Ranma was clearly younger than Kasumi, who had stated her disinterest in younger men, and Akane had seemed dead set against the idea of an arranged marriage when he brought it up earlier.  
  
Perhaps it was time to capitalize on the situation? "Well then. You all seemed to have introduced yourselves to each other. Which of my girls would you like to marry?"  
  
"DAD!" Nabiki complained loudly. "He's a weirdo! Why are you trying to keep this agreement!?"  
  
"That's not a nice thing to say, Nabiki!" Kasumi scolded her middle sister.  
  
"It's not Ranma's fault that he's cursed," Akane put in.  
  
"Besides," Ranma interjected, a bit peeved about Nabiki's reaction, "You seemed plenty interested in my other form. What with you fondling and groping and all…"  
  
"Yeah!" Akane dug in, following Ranma's lead in teasing her sister (a rare opportunity, since Nabiki usually had the upper hand in the teasing department). "What was up with that anyway? You were acting worse than some of the guys at school!"  
  
"It was rather rude, Nabiki," Kasumi added calmly but firmly.  
  
Nabiki was at a complete loss, not for the first time that day. She did not like the feeling in the least bit. "I am not marrying a freak!"  
  
"Ah, who asked to marry you anyway?" Ranma retaliated irritably.  
  
Soun tried to salvage the situation before it became any worse. "Well, there is always my eldest daughter, Kasumi, or my youngest, Akane," he offered hopefully.  
  
"Father," Kasumi started to explain. "Ranma, Akane, and I discussed this earlier, and we feel that it would be best if we put off the actual decision for a year so we could get to know each other first."  
  
"That's right," Akane agreed. "By then, we should know who Ranma is best suited for, and we'll all be better prepared to go ahead with the arrangement."  
  
"But the decision needs to be made right away!" Genma argued, worried with where this conversation seemed to be going. He knew what was likely to happen if he and Ranma stayed in one spot long enough, and he wanted his son safely married before any of their past came back to haunt them.  
  
"Why?" Ranma asked, clueless about the poor decisions his father had made over the years (well, the ones that would effect an engagement anyway).  
  
"It does seem like a reasonable request, Saotome," Soun put in. Although he would have liked it better had the boy just picked one of his daughters on the spot, it wasn't the end of the world. Perhaps it would be better this way?  
  
"Ah…" Genma started, and then stopped, realizing that he had no good explanation for wanting to rush things. Maybe if he pushed a few buttons, Ranma would hurry his decision along. "Oh, the shame of it all!" he wailed. "My poor boy, waffling like a girl!"  
  
"WHAT did you say!?" demanded an outraged Akane, preempting Ranma's own retort.  
  
"My son, my only son, hesitating like some weak little girl!" WHAM!!! Genma collapsed under the weight of the table that Akane just slammed him with.  
  
"Now that," Ranma started, "he had coming." He then continued to sip his tea, as if nothing had happened…  
  
***  
  
Genma knew he had to do something. At the very least, he had to get his son safely married before Nodoka found out that they were back in the Tokyo area and discovered their son's curse. Nor did Genma want to deal with the problems that would crop up if any of his earlier… entrepreneurism… came back to haunt him. It wasn't entirely impossible that either his friend, Soun, would call off the arrangement, or that his son, Ranma, would disown him over what he had done during his various travels with the boy.  
  
He needed a way to apply pressure to the boy. A way to speed up the decision somehow. Some way to aggravate Ranma to the point where he would give in and choose one of Soun's daughters to marry. But what? What buttons could he push to get things rolling in the right direction?  
  
Then it hit him. Ranma had to go to school again, now that they had settled down for a while. Genma still had to register him at Furinkan High, but who said that he had to register his son? What better way to apply pressure on the boy than an embarrassing social situation?  
  
With his plan firmly in mind, Genma dialed up the number for Furinkan's registration office. "Hello? Yes… I'm Genma Saotome, and I would like to enroll my daughter in your school…"  
  
If things went well, Ranma would be willing to make a decision by the end of the next day…  
  
***  
  
Nabiki lay smoldering on her bed. Things had not gone at all as she had expected them to. First the boy she had been hoping to marry turned out to be a girl. Then the girl turned out to actually be the boy, only under some sort of curse that turned him into a girl with cold water. She had been rather upset about that, and she had taken it out on the boy after dinner.  
  
Nabiki supposed that she really shouldn't have done that. Besides the guilt trip that Kasumi was laying on her about being rude to a guest, she had left herself wide open to retaliation from Ranma. What was worse, Akane had followed his lead with a few good digs of her own. That was virtually unheard of! Nabiki was supposed to be on top of the teasing game!  
  
Well… she only had herself to blame. She had allowed herself to be flustered when unexpected proof that magic did indeed exist suddenly presented itself without warning, and she had responded not with the cool, calm, control that she dealt with everything. Rather, she had lashed out blindly at the most convenient target of her frustrations, which happened to be Ranma.  
  
She should really apologize to the boy, but apologizing to anyone about anything, especially someone that she had just met, rankled to Nabiki. Maybe she would find a way to quietly make it up to him instead, without having to admit that she had behaved poorly towards him so far…  
  
***  
  
Ranma, for his part, had already put Nabiki's behavior out of his mind. The girl had received nothing but disappointment and shock today, so her reaction was understandable to him. Besides, his father seemed to be up to something again, and how Nabiki perceived him was a much lesser worry than the kind of thoughtless trouble Genma Saotome could brew up.  
  
At the moment, however, he could not give either one his attention. Akane had asked him, as a friend, to help her improve in the art. While he didn't want to hit someone that he had just become friends with, it wouldn't be fair to just keep dodging her like he had earlier. He still didn't feel comfortable with the idea of hitting another girl just yet. Maybe if he explained his reasons to Akane, they could work something out?  
  
"Um, Akane?" Ranma asked, hesitantly.  
  
"Yes?" Akane responded, wondering what was making Ranma nervous now. Surely he hadn't decided that he wanted to be engaged already.  
  
"Well…" Ranma began nervously. "I only ever fought one other girl before, and that didn't turn out so well…"  
  
"Don't worry, Ranma," Akane assured her new friend. "I've been training most of my life in the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. I'm not some delicate little flower that can't take a hit."  
  
"It's not that," Ranma explained, "although I'm not comfortable with the idea of hitting a friend either. Shampoo was the village champion for her age group, from what the guide had told us…" Ranma trailed off, unsure as to what to say next.  
  
"So she beat you?" Akane asked, not knowing whether to be amused or annoyed.  
  
"No," Ranma corrected. "I beat her, and that's the problem." Ranma then went on to explain what had happened in Joketsuzoku…  
  
Akane considered Ranma's dilemma after hearing him out. She now knew why he had just kept dodging her during their earlier match, and could understand his problem. With a sigh, she wondered what other trouble her new friend's idiot father had gotten him into over the years. "Well, I guess there's no help for it then. If you don't feel comfortable sparring with me, maybe we can just show each other our moves…"  
  
"No, Akane," Ranma stated. "That's not fair to you. I'll spar with you. Just give me a little time, okay?"  
  
"Okay!" Akane affirmed, brightening. Ranma had already proven to be a superior martial artist earlier, and Akane could not help but feel that her own training would be enhanced if she sparred with him. "Does it matter to you which form you spar in?" she asked.  
  
"Not really," Ranma replied, "but I suppose I should get used to the way my girl half moves in combat, and it would be useful to know just what I can give and take in that form…"  
  
"Well then. Let's get some water and find out, shall we?" Akane stated cheerfully. Maybe her new friend wasn't a girl, but perhaps not all boys were jerks after all…  
  
END CHAPTER ONE  
  
OMAKE THEATER PRESENTS: Problem Solved?  
  
It was raining lightly in the Nerima district. In the Tendo Household, Akane's voice was raised in protest. "FIANCE?!?"  
  
Soun Tendo looked at Akane, "Yes, the son of a very good friend of mine. His name is Ranma Saotome" he stated. "If one of you were to marry him, and carry on this dojo, then the Tendo family legacy would be assured."  
  
Akane thought about this for a moment.  
  
"Oh, THANK YOU, Daddy!" she cried cheerfully, moving around the table and giving her father a hug. "Maybe this will finally convince Kuno and the other jerks at school to stop harassing me every morning!"  
  
Massive facefaulting abounded, including remarkable ones from the redhead and the panda, who hadn't even arrived yet…  
  
  
OMAKE THEATER II PRESENTS: Something About a Bath…  
  
"In any event," Kasumi stated. "It's almost dinner time, and you both still need to clean up."  
  
"You first?" Ranma asked Akane as the two began to leave the kitchen.  
  
"No," Akane explained. "You are our guest. After you."  
  
"Why don't I draw a bath, and we can all take one together?" Kasumi proposed, prompting a massive facefault from the entire cast, crew, and audience of the entire Ranma series. Including Nabiki, who was still unconscious…  
  
END 


	2. Little Miss... Ranma?

Son Turned Daughter  
A Ranma ½ fanfict by Tangent  
Pre-reading and editing assistance by:  
Lord Talon;  
Nevrmore;  
And some guy named Steve  
  
DISCLAIMER: 'Ranma ½' and all characters therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This fanfict has been produced for my own enjoyment and to pass on without profit. Other characters that come into play in this fanfict may or may not be pulled from other sources (including other fanficts, RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even *GASP* American comic books!).  
  
A WORD FROM TANGENT: If you've read the previous chapter, you know that Ranma had explained the curse to Akane right after their initial sparring match and had managed to stay friends with her. Also, Ranma, Akane, and Kasumi had gotten Mr. Tendo to agree to letting Ranma put off his decision as to which Tendo daughter to marry for about a year. This doesn't sit well with Mr. Saotome, who is worried about his past catching up to him if his son isn't safely married soon.  
  
Genma has a plan.  
  
Needless to say, it's about to backfire…  
  
CHAPTER TWO: Little Miss... Ranma?  
  
Akane jogged through the front gate to the Tendo estate, returning from her morning run... and almost ran back out again in shock. She hadn't expected to see Ranma and his father apparently fighting it out in their front yard. It only took a moment for her to realize that the two were actually sparring, and that most of their match was taking place over the koi pond. This despite the fact that if either of them fell in, it would trigger their curses.  
  
"Wow," Akane murmured in awe to herself. "They really are good!" She was happy that Ranma had agreed to spar with her the previous evening, despite his justifiable misgivings (his experience with that amazon who now wanted to kill him explained that neatly). While Ranma had stated that he needed to get used to what his girl form could and couldn't do, he had proven to be very adept in combat as a girl even so. Not that Akane really minded being tossed to the floor time and time again, or being hit by the redhead's lightning quick strikes without being able to block them effectively. Even as a girl, Ranma knew how to pull her blows so that they were only painful, rather than damaging. By the end of her second match yesterday, Akane felt that she had learned more in one day from her friend than she had in the whole previous year from her father (whom she had suspected had been going easy on her).  
  
What Akane saw now was that Ranma did indeed seem to be a better fighter as a boy than he was as a girl. She agreed with Ranma's assessment at the end of the previous day though, in that it was probably only a matter of getting more experience with the differing strength and proportions of his cursed form. Akane was good enough to observe how much faster Ranma's girl form was compared to what she was watching now.  
  
"Hey!" Akane called out. "Can I join in?"  
  
"Sure!" Ranma responded happily in mid-attack. Akane had shown him a lot of potential yesterday, and he wanted to help his friend to realize that potential.  
  
"Ranma!" Genma barked sternly. "You are not training with a girl! Do you want to become weak?"  
  
"WHAT!?" Akane screeched, fuming as she approached the two sparring martial artists.  
  
"Akane has a lot of potential, pop," Ranma stated, in part to placate his friend and in part to correct his idiot father before he got hurt. "I'm not going to go soft by training with her. She's stronger than some of the guys I've fought!"  
  
"Boy," Genma lectured, oblivious to the impending doom that was approaching. "No girl can be as good a fighter as a man! Why, when I was training under the master... urk!" It was at that point that Akane had reached him and snatched him out of the middle of a leap by his gi. After a few moments of rather intense violence, Genma found himself bruised, bashed, and mangled into a rather unique shape by an irate Akane.  
  
Ranma knelt down beside his father afterwards to determine the extent of his injuries... and to rub salt into Genma's wounded pride. "Gee, pop," Ranma chided. "For a 'weak little girl', Akane seems to have worked you over pretty good. When you have an opinion that makes sense, maybe I'll listen. Until then, I'm going to help Akane achieve her potential. She is my friend after all."  
  
Akane beamed at the compliment, happy that her friend didn't share the opinions of girls that his idiot father did. She was about to ask if Ranma was ready to spar with her when Kasumi called everyone in for breakfast.  
  
Soun beamed from where he sat at the table. From his perspective, Ranma and Akane seemed to be hitting it off rather well. The boy certainly seemed to be the only one Akane's age that his youngest daughter had shown any interest in. And what he had seen of their second sparring session yesterday evening had rekindled a spark that Soun had thought long extinguished. Perhaps he had been wrong to go so easy on his daughter over the years, but after his wife's untimely death from that horrible cancer, he just couldn't bear the thought of hurting one of his little girls.  
  
Yes, waiting a year was a better idea after all. Soun was glad that his daughters and future son-in-law had asked for the extended time in order to get to know one another without being forced into anything. Genma would just have to learn to accept it.  
  
Genma, for his part, mused over the fact that his plans to convince Ranma to choose one of the Tendo daughters by the end of the day conveniently had the added benefit of being a suitable revenge for a disrespectful son as well...  
  
***  
  
"What do you mean, I've got to go to school!?" Ranma demanded. He knew it was true, but his previous experiences in the various schools that Genma had enrolled him in over the years were generally bad. It was hard fitting in, when you had to spend so much time making up for the fact that you missed so much school. Ranma was generally furious at his father every time he had to take placement tests because he had failed to complete a grade due to lack of attendance (because his father kept dragging him off on training trips for days and weeks at a time). It was also humiliating to have to admit to his peers that he had never actually completed even a single grade without having to take make up tests and placement exams in order to make the next grade. That he had managed to stay in the same grade as other boys in his age group was nothing short of miraculous, even if he was usually at the bottom of the class.  
  
"Well, we are going to be staying a while," Genma placated. He didn't really understand his son's aggravation, as Ranma seemed to be equally irritated whenever Genma took him out of school. If he had any idea about how difficult he had already made his son's social life over the years, he might have had second thoughts about his current course of actions. Probably not, but it was a possibility...  
  
"It's the same school Akane and I go to!" Nabiki put in as she walked by. "We'll see you there!"  
  
Akane jogged up quickly, pausing only to put her shoes on in the genkan. "Nabiki, Wait! I'll go with you!" She then noticed Ranma, who was irritably snatching a school carry-case from his father. "Do you want to walk with us?" she asked hopefully.  
  
"Umm... Okay," Ranma responded, trying to put his aggravation behind him. Unfortunately, said aggravation wasn't through with him yet. He felt a splash of water hit him, turning him into a girl. Spinning around to see her father toying with an empty cup, the now redheaded girl shouted, "WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR!"  
  
"Well," Genma explained as he set the cup down, enjoying Ranma's discomfort. "You can't very well attend Furinkan as a boy after all."  
  
"And *why* not!?" Ranma-chan demanded.  
  
"Because I registered my daughter into that school!" Genma replied, really getting into it now.  
  
"WHAT!?" Ranma-chan was alternating between shock and fury, actually frozen in place due to the intensity of her outrage.  
  
"Now if you would just quit waffling and make a decision, I could see my way to... urk!" For the second time that day, Genma found himself aggressively interrupted, this time by his so-called 'daughter'. In retrospect afterwards, he marveled at how quickly Ranma picked up new techniques. His son had only watched Akane mangle him before, and now (as a girl) had perfectly duplicated the various maneuvers against Genma. At the moment, however, he was in a lot of pain, and wondering when his friend, Soun, would wander by, so he could ask to be taken to a clinic...  
  
***  
  
Ranma-chan was fuming as she, Akane, and Nabiki made their way to school. "Baka-Oyaji! What's the big idea, registering me as a girl in school anyway? We already decided to hold off my choice for a year. Even Mr. Tendo agreed! What is his problem!"  
  
Akane looked over at her friend. While she didn't really mind Ranma-chan's cursed form, she knew that her friend wasn't completely comfortable with the fact that she had a different body part of the time. "Well, we could stop at Dr. Tofu's for a kettle of hot water to change you back..." she offered. She was rewarded with a grateful expression from Ranma-chan.  
  
"And what about when the teachers take attendance, Akane?" Nabiki asked dryly. She saw an opportunity here to both help and annoy the redhead in the same move. "You know the teachers are going to ask why a boy is attending class when they were expecting a girl."  
  
"Oh," Akane realized. "That's right! And some of the teachers will ask that right in front of the rest of the class too! You'd be humiliated in front of the whole class!"  
  
"That is probably what the old fool is after," Nabiki pointed out. "A way to humiliate you into speeding up your decision."  
  
Ranma-chan groused for a moment longer before it hit her. Nabiki was right! Her father probably expected her to change back into a boy before she got to school. As much as being a girl bothered her, it was mostly because it wasn't really who she was. She figured that she would be just about as upset if she turned into another guy instead. Possibly more so, if said curse provided a weak male body incapable of combat. At least this body could fight. "If that's the way he want's to play it, fine! I'll show him! He want's a daughter in school, he's going to get a daughter in school!"  
  
"Are you sure, Ranma?" Akane had to ask.  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure," Ranma-chan responded. "Nabiki has a point. Pop wants to embarrass me into forcing the issue, and that's not fair to me or you and your sisters. If I show up at school as a guy, I don't know how long I could take it before I lost my temper from the humiliation."  
  
"Besides," Nabiki observed. "What would happen if you attended school as a boy? Swimming is a required course at Furinkan. As soon as your class hits the water, your curse would've been exposed to the whole school." Nabiki noticed her sister's brief shudder, but Ranma-chan missed it as she thought about what Nabiki said.  
  
"You're right, Nabiki," Ranma-chan acknowledged. "Thanks for putting things in perspective."  
  
"Not a problem," Nabiki replied. [There,] she thought. [Now I've helped you out without having to apologize or admit I was being a jerk yesterday! I even received gratitude for it as well, which is a plus in my book] She hummed quietly to herself as the three continued on to school...  
  
***  
  
The three made pretty good time on their way to the Furinken High School. Ranma-chan didn't even bother to mention it when she got her legs splashed by an old lady casting water in a ritual cleansing to keep evil spirits away. The way the neo-girl saw it, it didn't hurt, and she may actually need all the help she could get (as she was already touched by magic, and was therefore almost guaranteed to attract at least a little attention from such things). Either that, or it was just another example of how she had turned into a kind of water magnet...  
  
As the three approached the front gates to the schoolyard, they noticed a crowd of twenty to thirty boys gathering. "Ah! Don't they ever get tired of this!" Akane snarled as she started stomping rather than walking.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Ranma-chan, although she could already guess that it had something to do with the mob of boys ahead of them. They seemed to be from various sports clubs as far as she could tell, but there were a few that she couldn't easily place (one example of such being a boy in the ordinary Furinken boys' uniform carrying a portable stereo of some sort).  
  
"These boys are trying to gain the right to date Akane by defeating her in combat," Nabiki explained casually.  
  
"What? Like she's some sort of tengu?" Ranma-chan asked, perplexed. "Did you set the challenge or consent to it?" she then asked Akane.  
  
"No, I did not!" Akane snapped.  
  
"Then it doesn't count," Ranma-chan stated firmly. "Do you want a hand?"  
  
Akane smiled at her new friend. "No, I can take care of them myself. Thanks for asking though." [Why can't more boys be like you, Ranma?] she thought to herself. Sure, her friend was a bit rough around the edges, but she (or rather he) had a good heart that offset what would otherwise be an overbearing macho attitude. And Akane hadn't thought that she would like any boy with a macho attitude. [I guess it's all in how... and when... it's used].  
  
"Don't worry about it, Ranma," Nabiki put in. "She does this every morning, and she hasn't lost yet."  
  
"Besides," Akane added, glaring at the boys. "I want to try some of the new moves you showed me yesterday..."  
  
"Well, all right," Ranma-chan consented warily. "I won't butt in. Just don't hurt them too badly. And if you're going to use what I showed you, I'm going to critique you after the fight."  
  
Akane started at this, but then realized the sense of it. If Ranma was going to get the dojo as part of the dowry of whichever girl she eventually married, she was going to be a sensei someday. Apparently, she already had some training as such, although Akane guessed that she had merely picked it up from other martial arts masters that she and her father had met during their travels, rather than from her father (she was absolutely correct in this assumption).  
  
Putting such introspection aside, Akane charged forward, prompting a mass counter charge from the mob of boys. With easy, circular sweeps and spinning strikes, Akane moved through the crowd with a touch more than her usual finesse. Ranma-chan observed the fight critically, noting where her friend could improve and occasionally spotting a move that she personally didn't know and would therefore ask about later. All in all, Akane was more of a ground-based fighter than the Saotomes were, but then again, so were most fighters.  
  
Nabiki's own observation was that the fight was a bit shorter than usual. As her younger sister had improved noticeably as a fighter over the course of only two sparring sessions with their young guest, Nabiki decided that they both merited further observation. Kuno was just playing around now, thinking he was allowing Akane to show the 'token' resistance that would prevent her from being labeled as an 'easy' girl. Also, he had no desire to actually hurt Akane, so took care not to push too hard in a fight with her. The way things were shaping up though, proved to Nabiki that her little sister may soon have nothing to worry about even if Kuno began to fight her in earnest.  
  
As Akane laid low the last of her massed opponents, she spotted a small projectile out of the corner of her eye and deftly caught it. It turned out to be a red rose. [Bleh! Kuno!] she thought to herself contemptuously.  
  
Kuno began his glorious introductory speech, only to be quickly interrupted by an unfamiliar spunky redheaded girl in Chinese apparel. "So, who's the loser who waited until after the fight was over to join in?" Ranma-chan asked Nabiki with exaggerated casualness. Her tone made it clear that she was definitely not impressed with the handsome boy wielding a boken in what was supposed to be a jaunty manner.  
  
"That," Nabiki answered in dry humor, "is my classmate, Kuno, who set the terms for dating Akane."  
  
"You mean the ones she didn't consent to, right?" Ranma-chan asked in an off-handed manner, glaring at the fallen boys as well as at Kuno.  
  
Nabiki nodded in confirmation. "That would be him, yes."  
  
Akane just looked at her friend, and then at the flustered Kuno as the redhead walked up to him.  
  
"Kuno-sempai," Ranma-chan began sweetly. "What you are doing to my friend, Akane, isn't right, and provoking others to fight her in false hopes of dating her isn't honorable. I'm going to have to beat you up later, but right now I don't want to be late for class. See you after school." With that she bowed politely and turned to enter the school.  
  
Akane and Nabiki gaped at that little act for a moment before rushing to catch up. As soon as they had, Ranma-chan started her critique of her friend's fight as they continued on into the building.  
  
Kuno was flabbergasted for a while longer, only to turn and head into the school himself moments before first bell. [Who is she?] he wondered.  
  
***  
  
"Class," Mr. Heiwaijigun began, "We have a new student today. Her name is Ranma Saotome, and she has recently returned from a training journey in China, so lets all give a 'Nihau' welcome for your new classmate!" After a pause, during which the class greeted the new girl, the teacher continued. "Would you care to tell us a little about yourself?"  
  
"Hai, sensei," Ranma-chan responded nervously. She was really irritated with her father right now, but tried to put a pleasant face on for her classmates, as it was hardly their fault that they thought she was a real girl. The overall effect of her mixed expression was that of being shy, which wasn't far from the truth either, but was the farthest thing on her mind.  
  
"I'm heir to the Saotome Ryu of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, which is related to the Tendo Ryu that my friend, Akane, is heir to. My father took me away from home when I was six in order to concentrate on my training, and raised me to be a 'man among men' if you could believe it." She gestured at herself briefly at that point, emphasizing her obviously feminine features. "While I've been in and out of various schools over the years, this is the first time he sent me to school registered as a girl." Ranma-chan watched the amazed expressions of her classmates and the somewhat amused expression on Akane's face (her friend knew that she was telling the truth... just not all of it).  
  
"For a while, I think he really believed that I was a boy," Ranma-chan quipped. "He even had me believing it!" This comment hit a little too close to home for her tastes, so she ended her speech with a pained expression. With that, she went to the seat indicated by the teacher, which was right by Akane.  
  
Mr. Heiwaijigun didn't know quite what to make of what he had just heard. It sounded plausible, if improbable, and Ranma used predominantly masculine or neutral inflections and gestures. In fact, the few feminine mannerisms the new girl evidenced seemed to be forced, as if she wasn't used to acting that way. She practically screamed 'social misfit', which may lead to some problems among her peers for her later, but he hoped not.  
  
Overall, Mr. Heiwaijigun found her to be remarkably open, given her self-stated situation. Whether she was telling the truth or making it up on the spot, Ranma's speech and body language gave all indications of a desperate cry for help. He would have to look into her situation himself in order to find out what kind of help she needed though.  
  
***  
  
"Did you hear about the new girl, Megumi?" asked Yasushi, a girl in another classroom.   
  
"Saw her confront Kuno right out there," Megumi replied, gesturing out the window. "Real idiot if you ask me, challenging Kuno like that."  
  
"Maybe she's a really good fighter?" another of Megumi's cohorts, Ayane, pondered. "She was hanging out with Akane…"  
  
"You mean, maybe she's a really bad fighter," Megumi sneered. "Akane's the only one in that group who can fight worth a damn."  
  
"I suppose you're right…" Ayane conceded.  
  
"Pretentious bitch, challenging Kuno just because Akane's there to back her up if he takes it seriously," Megumi muttered darkly. Why wouldn't Kuno look at her the way he looked at Akane? It wasn't fair, and now this new bit of fluff had wandered into the game.  
  
"Did you hear how she challenged him?" Yasushi asked, grinning at the trouble that the new girl was getting into with her boss. There was going to be some fun later, if she knew anything about Megumi.  
  
"Oh, I heard all right," Megumi all but growled. "Akane's one thing… She obviously doesn't like Kuno."  
  
"Not that Lover-boy seems to be able to notice," muttered Ayane in turn.  
  
"Coming onto him like that," Megumi snapped. "Just who does she think she is?"  
  
"If she's in the same class as Akane, she'll be in gym with the rest of us," Ayane pointed out.  
  
"Do you want to beat her up then?" Yasushi wondered, "or are we going to do something else?"  
  
"Oh, I have something in mind…" Megumi replied, grinning evilly…  
  
***  
  
Ranma's first day of classes at Furinkan was relatively uneventful. She, of course, struggled to keep up with most of the lessons; generally feeling frustrated during the classes. Between classes, and during the study period, she was surprised at the number of people willing to help her out and bring her up to speed. Since she didn't feel the need to project the overbearing self-reliance that her father insisted that all true men should have, Ranma was discovering that people could actually be quite friendly if you let them.  
  
That didn't mean that she let any of her new friends do her work for her, as that would be wrong. Besides the fact that it would be unfair to her new friends if she took advantage of them in this manner, she wouldn't really catch up in her education if she did that. So she had them show her how to do similar problems instead, until she got the process down.  
  
Akane even introduced her to two of their fellow classmates who were already Akane's friends: Yuka and Sayuri. Those two were very helpful, even if they did make her a tad uncomfortable with all of their questions about what kind of boys she liked...  
  
"You mean you really never thought about boys like that?" Sayuri wondered.  
  
"I thought I told everyone that I was raised as a boy before classes began," Ranma grumbled cutely. She didn't mean to sound cute, she just did. It tended to come with the body.  
  
"Couldn't you tell that you weren't like other boys?" Yuka asked... again.  
  
"My idiot Father raised me on the road, away from anything that might distract me from the art..." Ranma suggested.  
  
"If you really thought that you were a boy, does that mean that you're interested in girls?" Sayuri baited teasingly.  
  
"Of course... Ack! Er... Umm..." Ranma sputtered.  
  
"Idiot," Akane murmured, half-amused at her new friend's plight, but hoping that Yuka and Sayuri wouldn't spread news of Ranma's slip around. The last thing she needed was seeming confirmation of earlier rumors of her own sexual preferences...  
  
* * *  
  
The Home Economics and Family classes that the girls attended were real eye openers to Ranma. For one, she discovered right away that Akane was dangerous in the kitchen. Enough so, that most of her classmates were unwilling to partner with her. Ranma immediately jumped in for her friend, taking her under wing as she began to teach Akane from her own experiences, learned over ten years of camp-style cooking.  
  
"Akane," Ranma reminded her friend for the fifth time since the class started, "Don't just grab bottles and jars. Read the labels and make sure that what you've got is what you're after. Stuff gets moved around, so ingredients can get mixed up if you aren't careful."  
  
"Oh," Akane replied as she put the salt down and picked up the baking soda.  
  
"Akane, what did I just say?" Ranma asked as she took the baking soda from Akane and handed her the sugar...  
  
* * *  
  
The Family Planning class just left Ranma with a bright red complexion as the teacher took pity on her reported upbringing and brought her up to date with what she considered essential for every young girl to know. Stuff that, for the most part, Ranma would have rather remained ignorant of... Like menstruation and breast cancer.  
  
How Miss Tamashino could just talk like that, right in front of the rest of the class, was something that ran through Ranma's mind as she grew redder… and redder…  
  
* * *  
  
As lunch-break started, Akane dragged Ranma over by a tree to talk as they ate. "What was the deal with Kuno earlier?" she asked.  
  
"What do you mean?" Ranma wondered.  
  
"You were all cute and sweet, calling him 'Kuno-Sempai' and everything when you issued your challenge..." Akane reminded her friend.  
  
"I was just psyching him out," Ranma explained. "You know, throwing him off, so he'll be unbalanced during the fight later..."  
  
"Kuno's already unbalanced," Akane commented dryly. "He doesn't need any help with that." On a different track, she continued. "Anyway, be careful when you fight him. He's really good."  
  
"He just does kendo, right?" Ranma asked as she began to dig into her bento.  
  
"Well… yes…" Akane admitted as she remembered what she had seen of Ranma's skills.  
  
"And you've beaten him every time, right?" Ranma continued, not quite waiting between mouthfuls to talk.  
  
"Well… yes… but…" Akane's voice trailed off as her face grew bright red in embarrassed realization.  
  
"But what" Ranma wondered, looking up from her bento and examining her friend's expression.  
  
"…" Akane's voice was so quiet, she couldn't even hear herself.  
  
Ranma set her bento down for later, sensing that her friend was upset. "I didn't catch that, Akane"  
  
"He's been… I mean… I think he's been…" Akane murmured quietly.  
  
"He's been what?" Ranma asked, wondering if she should be pounding on Kuno for more reasons than what she already knew about.  
  
"He's been holding back on me," Akane finally finished.  
  
"Is that…" Ranma broke off, trying to keep her foot out of her mouth. "I mean, sometimes a guy does… that… when…" she trailed of, realizing that this comment was turning out even worse than the first one. "Ah… err… Umm…"  
  
Akane deciphered the comments anyway, and looked at her friend through half-lidded eyes. Ranma, for her part, did a great 'dear-caught-in-the-headlights' impression. This lasted for all of a minute and a half before Akane started giggling. Ranma jumped a little at this, then hesitantly joined in, laughing.  
  
"I'll tell ya what, Akane," Ranma continued after a moment.  
  
"And what would that be?" Akane asked, once more in a better mood.  
  
"Keep up your training with me, and soon enough, it won't matter if Kuno's holding back or not."  
  
"Deal!"  
  
***  
  
"I just got confirmation," Ayane told her boss. "The new girl is definitely in Akane's class. Her name is Ranma Saotome, and she's from another branch of the same Martial Arts school that Akane belongs to."  
  
"Good job, Ayane" Megumi smirked. "Anything else?"  
  
"Nabiki didn't say, and I didn't feel like wasting any more money," Ayane replied. "She's too new for Nabiki to have gotten much more, anyway."  
  
"Yeah." Yasushi added, "It's not like she moved in with them or anything like that."  
  
"A Martial Artist, eh?" Megumi smirk grew. "Pure wanna-be, I bet. What with the way she was acting. The worst we have to worry about is Akane, and I can take her."  
  
Yasushi grinned in anticipation, while Ayane raised an eyebrow at her boss's confidence…  
  
***  
  
Gym class brought a whole new set of troubles for the two when it came around. They had almost made it to the locker room, when they both stopped in sudden embarrassment.  
  
"I can't believe that I forgot about this!" Akane muttered, beginning to doubt Nabiki's wisdom in having Ranma go along with Mr. Saotome's crazy idea about being a girl in school.  
  
"Ah… ah… ah…" Ranma stuttered, her expression already bright red with the realization of what she was about to do. She didn't even notice Akane glare at her with balled fists.  
  
Akane unclenched her fists after a moment, when it looked like her friend was once again paralyzed with embarrassment. "Oh, come on!" she said, taking Ranma by the hand and dragging her into the locker room. "We may as well get this over with, and it isn't as if anyone has anything you haven't seen before!"  
  
"…" Ranma failed to respond, letting herself be dragged into what most boys her age would dream of. She herself was more inclined to envision what would happen if her secret was discovered while she was in there. It was not a pretty thought.  
  
The girls in the locker room ignored the two for a moment, until it became clear that Ranma seemed about ready to keel over in embarrassment.  
  
"Okay," one of the half-naked girls started dryly. "You claim to have been brought up as a guy, so you better prove that you aren't one."  
  
"Ah…" Ranma began, feeling very small and vulnerable.  
  
"Strip down and show us what you have…" the girl continued, "…and haven't!"  
  
Ranma froze, about ready to keel over from embarrassment.  
  
"Megumi!" Akane snapped in defense of her floundering friend. "Don't be mean! Ranma's never been in a girls' locker room before!"  
  
"Yeah!" Yuka chimed in, coming to their aid. "Let's give her some space and let her adjust."  
  
"Okay, okay! Jeeze, don't get your panties in a bunch!" Megumi acquiesced.  
  
After a few moments of piece, Ranma calmed down enough to begin changing into a spare set of girl's gym clothes. Her lack of a bra drew no comment, as it had already been guessed at from the way her breasts moved during the day, but the boxer shorts raised more than a few eyebrows. And then the murmuring started.  
  
"I guess you really were brought up as a boy," one of the girls blurted out as Ranma was reaching for the bloomers that had been set out for her, causing the embarrassed redhead to freeze up again. Akane just muttered under her breath as she finished changing, deciding that it might be best if they got this out of their systems now after all. Not wanting to abandon her friend, but too embarrassed herself, she left the locker room. Yuka followed her out.  
  
"Boxer shorts?" another girl asked.  
  
"Well… err… they're more… comfortable than…" Ranma's hesitant voice dropped even lower still, after a pregnant pause, "…briefs."  
  
"I guess they would be," Megumi observed dryly. "Take my advice though, and get yourself some panties. They'll draw less comment."  
  
"Oh…" Ranma mumbled, not really wanting to agree, but not seeing how she couldn't without giving away her secret. "Okay… I'll see if I can get Pop to get me some…" She then smiled as she realized that this could be another way to get at the old fool. Of course, the girls took her smile to mean something else, not quite different than what it really was.  
  
"I can see it now," Sayuri commented. "Ranma's father in the store buying panties for his 'son'!" She giggled, and others joined in. Shortly, she had left for the field as well.  
  
"Y-yeah," Ranma agreed, trying for the dry tone that Nabiki, Akane, and Megumi had used earlier, but not quite succeeding. Not really paying attention to what she was grabbing first, she put on the pale yellow T-shirt that was part of the girls' gym uniform. The red shorts fell on the floor behind the bench as she did so.  
  
"Well, one things for certain," Megumi observed in the much-practiced tone that the neo-girl had been trying for.  
  
"What's that?" Ranma asked, grabbing her socks next and donning them quickly as she looked at the other girl. She was far too flustered to keep track of what part of the process she was missing.  
  
"You are a natural redhead." Megumi smirked. Her smirk widened just a little bit as Yasushi discretely snatched up the stray pair of shorts, as well as Ranma's regular clothing. [This is just too easy,] she thought.  
  
"How can you tell?" Ranma asked, as she slipped her feat into the gym shoes that had been given to her. To her way of thinking, her hair color was hardly natural at all, considering that it was black when she was a guy. Had she looked down even once as she tied the laces, she would have seen her error.  
  
"Oh, I have my ways," Megumi demurred, grinning. This was way too easy, and the poor victim's new friends had already left. The girl with the rest of the new kid's clothes had left as well. Ranma, for her part, couldn't understand why everyone else was giggling.  
  
"Oh…" Ranma left it at that as she left the locker room herself, heading for the field that the girls were gathering in.  
  
* * *  
  
Ranma wished that she could have gotten away with wearing her regular clothes. The outfit she had on felt weird, as she was used to wearing longer pants. All cool and everything, as if she wasn't wearing anything, but that couldn't be it. The other girls in the locker room would have said something if that were the case. She was halfway across the field to where she spotted Akane talking to Yuka and Sayuri, when she saw them turn and… stare. Ranma then noticed other girls staring. And the boys in the other field looking at her in shocked disbelief. And the girl's coach breaking into a run towards her.  
  
Quickly assessing that all the other girls had tucked their T-shirts in, Ranma mistakenly thought that was what the problem was. It wasn't until she tried to correct this perceived error, that she truly discovered what the problem was…  
  
A look down confirmed her fears… and showed her how Megumi knew she was a natural redhead. She froze for a moment in pure mortification. Then she looked up once, tears brimming in her eyes, before running back into the locker room crying.  
  
***  
  
Megumi broke out laughing. "Oh, I can't believe she fell for that!" she chortled, tears of mirth in her eyes. Her compatriots laughed along with her, but their laughter died on their lips as they saw a storm coming. A very apparently angry storm named Akane Tendo.  
  
"MEGUMI!" Akane yelled. "Why did you do that to Ranma!?" No one missed the clenched fists or her furious expression.  
  
"W-what do you mean, Akane?" Megumi tried to maintain an air of casual indifference, but not quite succeeding. She was tough, but it was Akane who fought thirty to forty boys every morning. Fought them and won, every single time too. Still, Megumi thought that she could do the same…  
  
"You knew she had been brought up as a boy!" Akane retorted. "You knew she had a hard life, away from girls, and had never been in a girls' locker room!"  
  
"What's your point?" Megumi challenged. If Akane wanted to confront her now, it was fine by her. And Coach Niouriki was distracted too. Perfect!  
  
"Ooooh!" Akane snarled, running out of things to say. Then she slapped Megumi across her face. Hard.  
  
"Damn BITCH!" Megumi yelled, slapping her back, all trace of nervousness gone. She was a brawler who knew some martial arts moves, and who knew how to take a hit. It may be a hard fight, but she was sure that Akane would go down in the end.  
  
Akane's rebuttal was a power blow with her fist that Megumi barely managed to deflect. And thus, the battle was joined…  
  
***  
  
Coach Niouriki ran into the locker room and stopped, amazed. There were already fist-sized holes in the cinder-block walls and in the tiled floor. Several lockers had been caved in, also apparently by punches. The Saotome girl herself was found in a corner, slumped to the floor sobbing, wringing one of the damaged locker doors in her hands as if it was something other than metal. That was very much enough to unnerve Coach Niouriki, as this girl was quite possibly stronger than Akane. Thoughts of lawsuits raced through her mind for a moment as she considered just what this girl could do if her temper was anywhere near as bad as the Tendo girl's.  
  
Then she pushed those thoughts aside and gathered her nerve. Here before her was a poor child who needed help. Martial artist or not, this girl was hurting in ways that she probably never had been before. As she gathered the girl into her arms, she thought about requesting a parent/teacher interview with the idiot who decided to raise this poor soul as a boy…  
  
***  
  
The fight was a bit longer than Akane expected it to be. Megumi really could take a hit better than any of the boys that she fought every morning. She gave back almost as good as she got, too. Too bad for her that Akane had had that session with Ranma the previous evening, or Akane's confidence would have been shaken enough to grant the bully an advantage. Akane actually smirked as she realized that she now had a sparring partner that more than made up for the potential loss of the big group fight that she had to go through every morning. And she wasn't thinking of 'Ranma-sensei' either…  
  
Megumi, for her part, began to worry. Akane was as good as her reputation had made her out to be. She was hoping that by lasting longer than Akane's other opponents had, that the Tendo girl's confidence would break, causing her to make mistakes. Or at the very least, that her endurance would give out before her own.  
  
The fight continued, and as it did it became more and more apparent just who the real martial artist was…  
  
***  
  
When the girls headed into the locker room after the fight, they gaped at the devastation they found within. Locker doors had been caved in by punches, and there were cracks and fist-sized holes in the tiled floor and cinder block walls. In one corner, they found Ranma, sitting with a towel wrapped around her waist, sobbing as Coach Niouriki held her in her arms.  
  
"Don't you have something to say, Megumi?" Akane growled.  
  
"Ranma, I'm…" Megumi stopped briefly as the neo-girl looked up with tear-streaked and hate filled eyes. [Oh, crap!] she thought. [She's stronger than Akane! And she's pissed with me!] Gathering her nerve again, she blurted out, "I'm sorry!"  
  
"You had better be, young lady," Coach Niouriki scolded. "That was a very cruel thing you did, and I want to know who was all in on it!" A handful of girls raised their hands up, along with Megumi. The coach noted who they were and stated, "Each of you has a week's detention, starting today."  
  
"Yes, Coach." The guilty girls muttered in shame.  
  
"Now where are Ranma's clothes?" Coach Niouriki asked the girls in question.  
  
"…" As she was getting no response, and could see that Ranma was tensing up, Coach Niouriki tried another tact. She casually picked up the locker door that Ranma had been wringing in her hands earlier, bringing it to everyone's attention.  
  
"You don't want to be in any more trouble than you already are, do you?" She asked as she began to straighten the door out the same way that Ranma had twisted it to begin with… with her bare hands. Not that she would actually hit any of them, but they didn't need to know that. And the act served as a suitable warning about the girl who had ruined the door in the first place.  
  
"They're in the bushes," Yasushi confessed quickly, "behind the equipment shed!"  
  
"Go get them," instructed the Coach. "Akane," she then addressed.  
  
"Yes, Coach?"  
  
"Get Ranma's things from her desk and take her home. She's had enough for one day. There's no need to embarrass her any further than what has already occurred.  
  
END CHAPTER TWO.  
  
OMAKE THEATER PRESENTS: All Natural Girl  
With special thanks to Zalabar, who came up with the idea behind this one.  
  
Ranma was halfway across the field to where she spotted Akane talking to Yuka and Sayuri, when she saw them turn and… stare. Ranma then noticed other girls staring. And the boys in the other field looking at her in shocked disbelief.  
  
"Ranma! Your bottom!" Akane cried out in shock as the neo-girl closed in.  
  
"What about it?" Ranma asked, perplexed.  
  
"You're not wearing anything!" Akane pointed out, not believing how calmly Ranma was taking this.  
  
"Oh, I know Akane. It's much more comfortable this way. Let's play some soccer!"  
  
Everyone within earshot face-faulted… badly!  
  
END. 


End file.
